My name is Melina Mewapan Laboucan-Massimo. I am a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation. And I work as a Climate & Energy campaigner on Tar Sands issues here in Alberta.

Photo credit: Paula Che Kirman

It is amazing to see you all out here today as we stand together to assert our rights as Indigenous peoples. After years of organizing here in Alberta and across Turtle Island, it is pretty inspiring to see so many people coming together to say NO MORE, Enough is Enough.

All across Turtle Island we see communities trying to protect the little they have left as a result of a dishonoured treaty process and the disrespect the Canadian government has shown for these sacred agreements. Agreements that our ancestors made so we could live as equals in peace and in co-operation.

Canada promotes itself as being a democratic country but this is becoming further and further from the truth as the Harper government makes sweeping changes to federal legislation without First Nation consultation or consent.

In Bill C-38 and Bill C-45 we have seen dramatic changes to over 100 Federal Acts and Laws – changes that will affect the safety of our water, fish and the land which undermines our Treaty and Aboriginal rights.

The Harper government’s omnibus budget bills introduced the most sweeping changes to environmental law ever seen in Canadian history - all of this is designed to make it easier for the government and companies to extract resources from our lands.

In the north of Alberta we already see the water becoming polluted, the air being poisoned and the land being destroyed. In the tar sands we see the landscape drastically changing from a once pristine and beautiful boreal forest to an increasingly industrial and toxic terrain.

Animals and fish have become sick with tumors and caribou are listed as a threatened species that are predicted to disappear entirely from our traditional territories within the next 30 years. People no longer feel safe to harvest traditional medicines, teas or berries because they have become contaminated. People young and old have started to die of rare forms of cancers that we have never seen before.

More than any other time in our history the earth is being contaminated and destroyed at an unparalleled rate and people and animals alike are being sacrificed for the benefit of a few.

Each day in the tar sands over 1.5 million barrels of oil is produced. For each barrel of oil that is made it takes 3 to 5 barrels of water to make just one barrel of oil. This means everyday in the tar sands they are using millions of barrels of water to produce oil!

Yet communities like where my family lives still do not have running water.

Does the Harper government not understand that water is the most valuable and precious resource we have? Yet we see this government continue to strip away any protective measures to ensure that communities will continue to have access to clean water – a necessity for all Canadians.

People across this country need to understand that this will affect us all. The legislative changes are coming to a river or lake near you thanks to Bill C-45. Out of 32,000 large lakes across Canada, now only 97 lakes are protected. And out of 2.5 million rivers in Canada, there are now only 62 rivers protected under federal law. It is clear that these changes are an attack on our Aboriginal and Treaty rights.

In the next 10 to 20 years, the exploitation of the tar sands will be one of the biggest issues and debates of how we as a human race consume and produce energy. Working towards harnessing renewable energy and returning to our sustainable ways as Indigenous peoples is of extreme importance if we are to live out our existence as stewards of the land, a duty given to us by the Creator. Now is the time to transition to more sustainable and self-sufficient economies before it is too late.

There are prophecies that speak of a time when people must come together to heal the earth.

A time when people from the Four Directions come together to work for Justice, Peace, Freedom and recognition of Kichi Manitou, our Creator, the Great Spirit and the sacredness of Mother Earth.

The Idle No More movement is a sign of the changing times – that we will no longer be silent while the land and Mother Earth continue to be pillaged and sold off for profit. But we must stand strong as one – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, Elders and young ones – we must choose to say stand and say no more. No more can you divide and conquer, no more will you instill fear in us. No more. We must choose to fight for the preservation of Mother Earth and a way of life that is sustainable for all. It is our responsibility to protect our homelands.

Hello, This is probably why companies are measuring arsenic levels as they seem to have a stop point in SAGD where they are to stop producing and move on to a new location. I do not know what safe levels are I just know I do not want any and the steam extraction brings up levels. I am also not sure about mining though when you disturb earth you may not get all you want. I know that the more steam the H2s goes from 0 and up within 7 years. The companies are not only drilling to measure levels of arsenic under the PADS but they are doing ground surface testing also and In my past experience if it reaches ground it leaches with rain and water flow. That whole area has nothing but surface water flow. By the way when they start a new PAD they are not far apart and well communication is common on old PADS so the closer they get they may also communicate underground in the chambers below the cap rock also. Not sure as all is to new to show but if wells can start to share heat so can PADs below the cap rock. Time will tell.
Thanks

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(Unregistered) Rigrat
says:

To add with my previous comment:

1. What are the possible health effects of arsenic in drinking water?
According to a 1999 study b...

To add with my previous comment:

1. What are the possible health effects of arsenic in drinking water?
According to a 1999 study by the National Academy of Sciences, arsenic in drinking water causes bladder, lung and skin cancer, and may cause kidney and liver cancer. The study also found that arsenic harms the central and peripheral nervous systems, as well as heart and blood vessels, and causes serious skin problems. It also may cause birth defects and reproductive problems.
2. Does it occur often?
In a February 2000 report, NRDC analyzed data compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on arsenic in drinking water in 25 states. Our most conservative estimates based on the data indicated that more than 34 million Americans were drinking tap water supplied by systems containing average levels of arsenic that posed unacceptable cancer risks. We consider it likely that as many as 56 million people in those 25 states were drinking water with arsenic at unsafe levels -- and that's just the 25 states that reported arsenic information to the EPA.